This almost indescribably strange animated film is nonetheless certain to appeal to parents and children alike and offers an especially strong role model for young girls to relate to.  Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most revered producers of Japanese anime.  This revised version of Kiki represented Disney's big-budget attempt to introduce his work to American audiences and it benefits from a pristine print (unlike many Asian films that find their way to our shores), a hilarious performance by Phil Hartman (which apparently strays fairly far afield from the original script), as a wise-cracking cat, and a couple of lovely songs.

Kiki is a young witch in training.  She's just turned thirteen, the age at which she's expected to leave home and set up shop in another town.  She departs on her broom, along with her familiar, Jiji (Hartman) and ends up settling in a beautiful seaside city.  A series of coincidences sees her meet a boy, Tombo, who's a flying enthusiast, start a business delivering packages for the locals, and get a room with a family of bakers.  As she deals with separation from her family, the demands of a business, the attentions of boy, and learning to control her magic powers, Kiki easily wins the hearts of those around her and ends up becoming a hero when she saves Tombo during a dirigible accident (yes a dirigible).

Mr. Miyazaki makes no attempt to explain the easy acceptance of witches by the rest of the population, presenting them as a given.  The setting of the story is a bizarre combination of 19th Century and 1930s Europe.  Characters are alternately Japanese or Western with no apparent rhyme or reason.  Perhaps the intent is to make the story appear to occur in an entirely unique world, but there's so much that's familiar, that it is disconcerting the first time you watch it.  But rest assured, if you have kids you'll be watching it more than once, and you'll get used to its oddity.

(Reviewed:22-Apr-02)

Grade: (A-)